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QUETTA, Aug 11: Although the “war against terror” was imposed on the country after the attacks in the United States in Sept 2001, it had now turned into “a battle for survival of Pakistan”, the interior minister said in Quetta on Sunday.

“The entire nation should be on the same page in the 'war against terror’ as it has now become a battle for survival of Pakistan even though it was imposed on us,” Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said at a press conference after chairing a meeting on law and order.

He said the fight against terrorists would continue under a “comprehensive national security policy” to be unveiled soon.

The army would provide 5,000 sub-machine guns (SMGs) to Balochistan and start a training programme for police on an emergency basis, the minister added.He said that despite recent terrorist attacks, the morale of security forces was high and they were ready to take the fight to terrorists.

The meeting reviewed the law and order situation in the wake of recent terrorist attacks in the province.

The chief secretary and the home secretary briefed the interior minister about the law and order situation in the province and steps taken by the provincial government.

Chaudhry Nisar expressed concern over last week’s attack in Police Lines, the killing of 13 passengers in Bolan district and the shooting near a mosque on Eid day, terming them an attempt to demoralise the security forces and police.

“Our police, civil armed forces and personnel of other security institutions are determined to defeat the terrorists,” the minister said, praising Balochistan Police and Frontier Corps for standing up to them.

He disclosed that a number of people had been arrested on suspicion of involvement in the killing of 13 Punjab-bound bus passengers in Bolan. “Security forces have achieved success in some other incidents of terrorism in Balochistan.”

The interior minister said that a decision to make Quetta a secure and arms-free city would be taken soon and police, FC, Levies and other security institutions had assured to comply.

SECURITY POLICY: In reply to a question, he said the national security policy was under preparation. “We want to give a security policy that can be implemented without any hurdle.” He said the federal government and its institutions concerned were studying security policies of several countries.

He said no government during the past 13 years had thought about preparing a national security policy, but the present government had decided to thrash out a “comprehensive and meaningful policy” to rid the country of terrorists and their networks.

The policy would be finalised after consulting leaders of all political parties and stakeholders, he added.

He said that it was a war against an unseen enemy who was different in Balochistan, Sindh, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

“We have to set Balochistan on the track of development,” he added.

Chaudhry Nisar condemned the recent terrorist attacks in Quetta and said that the federal government would extend all help to the Balochistan government to fight terrorism.

He said the provincial government would be given financial assistance and modern security equipment and help in capacity building of police and civil armed forces. Islamabad was also ready to send competent police officers on the request of the Balochistan government, he added.

The minister said army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kyani had told him that the Pakistan Army would provide 5,000 SMGs to Balochistan police very soon.

He admitted that incidents of terrorism in the province had risen over the past six weeks, but termed them a reaction to unprecedented success of law enforcement agencies against the terrorist outfits which were active in the province.

He said security forces had also succeeded to arresting all suspects allegedly involved in an attack on a bus of a women university and foiled innumerable acts of terrorism.

Mr Nisar stressed the need of a better coordination among the provincial government, Balochistan Frontier Corps, local set-up of Inter Services Intelligence and Intelligence Bureau to restore peace in the province.

He said an inquiry was under way at federal and provincial levels about the recent suicide attack in the police lines in Quetta in which DIG Fayyaz Sumbal and 20 other policemen lost their lives.

He announced a gallantry award for DIG Fayyaz Sumbal, holding out an assurance that all possible assistance would be provided to families of the dead police officials.In reply to a question, he said: “Our eastern and western borders are completely safe.”

Comments (18) Closed

Patriot

Aug 12, 2013 01:42pm

Does our govt believe in issuing policies or take action. What is stopping them to act strongly against the menace of terrorism & sectarianism. Sectarianism is an equally monstrous problem eating at the roots of the state.

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MSA

Aug 12, 2013 02:47pm

Nisar is repeating the same slogans as the previous government did. Some of the slogans do not make sense, but we will see if they achieve any results.

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Dr.M.M.Khan

Aug 12, 2013 02:48pm

While i welcome the interior minister,s robust comments , the distribution of lethal weapons like SBM should be handled with care. The police should be vetted carefully. The danger of such weapons sold further on is always present as the the events in the middel east can attest to . The soution lies in winning the minds and not disabling them. If we cannot cure the problem let us try to manage it until we have the solution available. SBM is not the answer--addressing the greviances is the problem. Let us not use inflammatory language despite the provocation. Emotions should be checked rather than provoked.

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Khawaja

Aug 12, 2013 03:32pm

".. We want to give a security policy that can be implemented without any hurdle"

Makes me wonder (sincerely ofcourse) how effective a policy can be, that faces no hurdles?

Nisar sb needs to understand that even though no government has done anything in this regard except exacerbating the problem at hand, his government needs to come up with substantial and holistic outlook, policy and immediate action items to curb this immense problem.

People, are dying. Every day. This is no small matter, every second the government wastes is another second that will be used to plot another attack on innocents.

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saeed

Aug 12, 2013 03:40pm

How Ironic, same words, if came out from the mouth of Musharraf would have been a sin.

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Jamshed Khan

Aug 12, 2013 03:44pm

Chaudhry Sahib, you have proved no different from your predecessor, Mr Malik. You are equally shameless and incompetent. Number of terrorism-related killings have actually gone up since you became the interior minister (and since Sharif and Co took the throne). The general law and order situation, kidnappings, ransoms, etc, have in fact increased. So much so for the '90-day' plan of your government.

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Haroon Gul

Aug 12, 2013 06:45pm

Please do something.

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Assad

Aug 12, 2013 07:18pm

Saeed,

Its because we are a nation of hypocrites. We are facing our reckoning for being just such two faced hypocrites. The TTP will be the end of Pakistan. The lack of control over these people, the confusion in the minds of our uneducated population over the TTP (who are clearly the enemies of not only Pakistan, but also Islam as they have done nothing but weaken the ummah) will lead to an outside power coming in to dismantle our prized nuclear weapons.

Our political and military leadership think they can blackmail the World into supporting us indefinitely, but given the way things are going, at one time not too far off in the future, these same powers will decide to take the matter into their own hands. At that point in time, all this talk of "khudmukhtari" etc. will go out the door.

It is completely in our hands to clean the mess (TTP) for once and for all. If not, within the next 5-10 years, there will be a massive OBL type operation to denude Pakistan of her prized possessions. Our qaum will cry again about our "sovereignty" and all the other useless things that our politicians teach them and then will shut up and learn to live as a subservient third world nation.

This is our destiny if we intend to change it. Otherwise it will be someone else changing things for us and we may not like that too much!

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Khalid

Aug 12, 2013 08:01pm

oh thank you Mr. Interior Minister. So you are back from wherever you were?. Welcome back. Pakistan is burning at both ends and you are galavanting. Nobody saw anything from you for the last these days. Were you busy celebrating Eid?. Any other Internior minister anywhere in the world would have gone to the effected area within 15 minutes of hearing about the incident and so would any Prime Minister.

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Amjad Wyne

Aug 12, 2013 08:18pm

Minister Nisar just woke up.

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Agha Ata

Aug 13, 2013 12:08am

It is not a battle of survival yet. Water is high enough to cover and shut their ears, but it still not over their heads.

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SarcoJoe

Aug 13, 2013 12:37am

He talks of 15,000 men being drafted and trained by the army. When and for which select location? This province is the largest in Pakistan, so 15,000 men will barely cover two or three districts. Compare this with the higher combined strength of law-enforcement Agencies losing ground slowly but surely in just the city and suburbs of Karachi. You can tell straight away that all this is hogwash!
Men to be trained by the Army will take some time to develop and prove to be second to none. However, this very quality of theirs will render them liable to be highjacked by the burra sahibs and politicos in Balochistan for other duties in offices and homes. What the public will get will be the residue already on hand, comprising of sifarishis and tired old hands with their flowing silvery or bright red beards, dated weaponry and ramshackle vehicles,as evident in Karachi.
(Example: drive past PPP's Zuliqar Mirza's
residence in DHA Phase 5, or Qaim Ali Shah's digs a few streets away, if they let you through, and observe the gratis but grand collection of men-in-uniform and their shiny wherewithall; compare this with the tired old hands in shabby uniforms, with their decrepit arms and vehicles barely a kilometre away at junctions like Submarine Chowk, Teen Talwar, Empress Market, etc.).
So you see, at the end of the day, there's hardly any respite from these foolish boasters, and their ilk, for the rest of us!

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sja

Aug 13, 2013 05:52am

@Jamshed Khan:
have you heard the saying door kay dhool suhanaaay so when he was in opposition you see it was not his problem but now things are different and when the shoes are changed and you step in the same shoes you have to MARATHON between QUETTA, KPK, LAHORE, ISLAMABAD, and transit at RAIWIND ---- note that RAI-- WIND for the RIGHT DIRECTION --- conincidently.

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sja

Aug 13, 2013 05:52am

@Haroon Gul:
Please do something ------------------- just imagine it is DONE.

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Mustafa

Aug 13, 2013 06:28am

Pakistani politicians are great talkers but lack will for actions.

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Yawar

Aug 13, 2013 07:17am

This thing about a lack of policy is an excuse for inaction. What we need is action against not only the murderers but also their comrades under training to become murderers. When are we going to see any action Chaudhry saab?

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Modi

Aug 13, 2013 11:18am

@Jamshed Khan:
For God's sake, don't consult religious parties of Pakistan on your anti terrorist strategy. These religious leaders will stone-wall you at every step. They are a bunch of selfish and bigoted lot. They are not interested in progress and interested in making pakistan a strong and respected nation among the world's civilized nations. These religious leaders are trying to bring back the Arab tribal cultures and practices of 1200 years ago. They are completely out of sink with the world and with humanity.